Disease
by BubblesFullbuster
Summary: Lucy is a patient in a hospital. Then something happens. Lucy must find out what went wrong... But she isn't alone in this hospital of horrors.


**This is an AU. Lucy is in a hospital (I won't say what sort because you have to read and find out for yourself!) and something happens. Please read and tell me what you think! Characters might be OOC.**

Cold, dark hallways stretched out to either side of Lucy. Barely illuminated by dim, flickering lights, the hallways emitted a spooky atmosphere, warning the patients to stay in their rooms. The eerie silence chilled Lucy to the core - it was not supposed to be this silent in a hospital. The last time Lucy had been out of her room, the cheery chatter of doctors and nurses had filled the corridors. They had walked up and down the corridors, patrolling and spying on the patients in their rooms. The stillness surrounded Lucy, enticed her to walk down the corridor and into whatever lay beyond the stifling darkness. Lucy turned on her heel and shut her room door behind her. The clang of the door echoed throughout the halls. Nobody heard it.

-x-

Before The Change, food was delivered three times daily through a slot in her door - heaped plates of delicious steaming food on sparkling white plates. Her bedsheets were changed weekly while she was outside during mandatory exercise hours. Her room was cleaned daily, and filth and dirt were mostly foreign concepts to her. Her room was, as far as hospital rooms go, quite large. A spacious white room with a double bed, an en suite bathroom with a luxurious bath tub, a door leading to the flourishing gardens and exercise area outside. To the undiscerning eye, one might think that this was the room of a wealthy heiress - and they would be partially right. The room did indeed belong to the wealthy Lucy Heartfilia - but she was no longer an heiress. Her father had remarried and produced a son, who became the automatic heir to the Heartfilia fortune. Fortunately for Lucy, her father had seen fit to set aside one-third of the fortune for her when she came of age. The money had rested in the bank for over a decade, untouched except for the yearly withdrawals from the hospital for their fees. Lucy lived alone in the lap of luxury, a prisoner of the fortune that bound her to stay in the overly-perfect hospital. Minor clues were the only thing that let on that this room was not as perfect as it appeared to be. Soft leather cuffs attached to the sides of the bed, a wardrobe with stark white clothes, and the absence of anything breakable or dangerous. A vase of vividly violet flowers - in a beautifully crafted plastic vase fixed to the windowsill. The windows gleamed, shiny reflections on plastic.

And then, The Change happened. Lucy entered her room through the door to the gardens and stopped short at the lack of light. For the first time since her admission into the hospital, the electricity had been turned off. Her room looked distinctly creepier in the dark, black shadows forming nightmarish shapes in the corners of her room. She shuffled fearfully to her bathroom and sat in the bath tub, rocking and staring at the lights, as if they would somehow illuminate the room in response to her terror. The lights remained off - the elaborate light fittings taunting her with their resolute stillness. She slept in the bath tub that night, only venturing out of the bathroom the next day when it was time for the mandatory exercise hours. The fresh air and bright sunlight filled Lucy with joy, and she frolicked in the sun for the full three hours. When the siren rang out, at the same time as every other day, Lucy sighed in disappointment and headed back inside. The doors locked automatically behind her as she stepped into the room. The lights were back - not fully, but enough that Lucy could see her surroundings. Her bedsheets remained crumpled on her bed where she had left them that morning, untouched. Her lunch tray had not been delivered to her room yet, and Lucy's stomach grumbled in protest. Lucy had now not eaten since breakfast time yesterday, and she was starving. Her face pulled into a grimace and she stalked towards the bed, wrapping herself up in the creased duvet. With nothing to do, Lucy slept. And while she slept, she dreamed dreams of stark white rooms, men in green surgery masks, and a face that seemed familiar yet completely alien. A blond haired man, with a mustache. Behind him was a castle - mansion? - With windows that shone in the sunlight. A young girl played on the lawn, chattering to herself as she played with her dolls. The pretty dresses that should have been on her dolls were discarded behind the girl, and the dolls were instead clad in clothes obviously made by the young girl. A harsh voice interrupted the girl's game. "Lucy!"

Lucy shot upright, sweat trailing down her brow, in a panic. That had been a new dream. Who was the man? Who was the little girl? What was that castle behind them, the one that seemed so familiar and yet so foreign at the same time? A glance at the clock on the wall showed that she had slept through the night. It was now morning. Around this time, breakfast would normally be delivered to Lucy's room on a silver tray. Bacon, eggs, toast and tomatoes, cooked to perfection. Lucy clamped her arms tightly around her stomach as it grumbled loudly. Lucy sighed - until mandatory exercise hour, there was nothing to do but sit and wait. She sat, enveloped in her goosefeather duvet, and watched the lights as they flickered on and off. The dim light provided an interesting atmosphere for her reflections. Lucy sat in a lotus position, the duvet falling from her shoulders. As she began to meditate, Lucy wondered again - as she always did - where she had learned this art.

-x-

About a week had passed since The Change. Lucy had received no food since then, and her body was beginning to show it. Her face was pale and drawn, her body showing the fragile bones beneath her skin. Her long hair lay limp against her head, with none of the volume and vitality it usually contained. Lucy had been lying motionless on her bed for that week of hungriness, too lacking in energy to even go outside for the mandatory exercise hours. Her stomach grumbled weakly, and Lucy frowned down at it. Lucy knew she was hungry - there was no need for her stomach to remind her of its emptiness.

Mustering up what little energy she had, Lucy shuffled weakly to the door that led to the corridors. She raised her bony arms and beat gently against the iron door. "Hello? Please help me…" Her voice, crackling from disuse, came out in a breathless whisper. Lucy cleared her throat and tried again. "Please, somebody! Please help me!" Listening intently, she thought she heard a faint scuffling outside the door. Encouraged by the noise, Lucy beat her hands harder against the door. "I'm starving! Please help me… Don't leave me alone in here to die…" Her voice cracked on the last words, and Lucy crumpled into a heap on the floor, dissolving into loud, painful sobs. The food hatch on her door clattered open, squeaking in protest. Lucy bent down to look through, and spied a pair of stormy blue-grey eyes. The eyes disappeared and before Lucy could call out, a bowl of hot soup and a roll were pushed through the hatch. Lucy gulped the food down hurriedly, almost fearful that it would be taken away again.

Lucy called through the hatch, but the eyes didn't reappear. Lucy carried her bowl to the bathroom and washed it in the gleaming white basin. She may not have done her own housekeeping, but even she knew that it was unhygienic to have dirty dishes where you slept. Lucy walked back to her bed and collapsed onto it out of pure exhaustion – a mere bowl of soup was not able to replenish the energy she had lost after a week of not eating. Drifting off into a restless sleep, Lucy did not notice the stormy eyes watching her from the small window in her door.

When Lucy awoke the next morning, a large bowl of cereal and milk waited for her by the door. Lucy gulped it down and paced anxiously around her room. Now that she knew there was someone else in the hospital with her, could she really stay in her room like a scared little girl? Deciding against trying to unlock her mechanised door, Lucy sat and meditated. Her trance was disturbed by the clanking of her food door. When Lucy opened her eyes, a stale sandwich with butter sat awaiting her attention. She ate it slowly, chewing the bread several times before gulping it down with difficulty.

This procedure happened every day for exactly a week – Lucy would entertain herself in her room and food would be delivered at regular intervals each day. The power was still out, so Lucy had to find ways to entertain herself that didn't require electricity. On the seventeenth day after the change, Lucy awoke to find the lights at full power, shining brightly down from their sockets in the ceiling. She jumped up and ran to the door, scarcely noting the food on the floor. She hammered on the door loudly. "Let me out! Please! LET ME OUT!" Lucy screamed with all her might.

She sat and stared intently at the door. Maybe… Maybe if she stared hard enough, it would open. For exactly 5 hours, Lucy sat and stared at the door. As the clock struck one o' clock, the food hatch started to swing open. Lucy flipped onto her stomach and stared outside. The stormy eyes appeared in the small gap and stared back into Lucy's eyes. "Please let me out." Lucy whispered pleadingly. The eyes blinked once, twice, and disappeared. A new plate of food was deposited into Lucy's room. Loud footsteps reached Lucy's ears, and she almost started to cry. She was never going to get out of this room and find out what had happened.

Early the next morning, as Lucy tossed in her sleep, a loud ringing buzz sounded throughout her room. Lucy sat bolt upright and stared at the door. It clicked – and swung softly open on its hinges. Lucy stepped tentatively towards it and peered outside. Long empty white hallways to either side. With eyes wide-open and a heart beating faster than a rabbit, Lucy took a deep breath… and stepped into the empty void.

**So, what do you think? Should I continue or not? Please let me know in a review! **


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